In the late 80's I sang and played guitar in local Portland band Deténte Touch. Back then, I went by the name Ursela D and had real big hair (we're talkin' Aqua Net baby!) and a whole lot of spandex, lace and leather. I absolutely LOVE to reminisce about local rock history!
CLICK HERE to read SP Clarke's History of PDX Rock for info about my old band .
One of my favorite things in life is running into the old rockers who played those wonderful nightclubs that no longer exist...(Remember The Long Goodbye, The Last Hurrah, Eli's and Key Largo? Those were the days!)
I can sum up the rest of my life pretty quickly. Rock band fizzles. The 80s come to an end. Girl meets boy, they have child. Move to California. Marriage fizzles, mom raises child. Goes to college, gets a clue and finds a renewed passion in this amazing box that started it all back in the 70s. RADIO. Yes, I too grew up a devoted fan of Super 62 and Keep on KISN and couldn't turn KGON up loud ENOUGH when I was driving my '66 Chevy Malibu!
Meanwhile, I've held every minimum wage job known to man I think. Every fast food place, every convenience store, child care, secretary, receptionist, supervisor, whatever you can think of I did it to pay the rent. That was legal of course! The most interesting job I've held was at world music record label Tinder Records as publicist for several international artists. (Have you ever heard of Cheb Mami, Fatal Mambo, Daúde, Sally Nyölo, Son 14, Orquésta La Moderna Tradición, Karnak, Papi Oviedo, Montefiori Cocktail or Henri Dikongé?) The cushiest job I've ever had was as film critic for syndicated web portal UncleWebster.com. Yes I was actually paid for a whole year to sit on my keester and eat popcorn while taking notes in a movie theater! Trust me, it showed!
The end of the 90s and my big break came as a fill-in news anchor during morning drive on the #1 station in Santa Rosa, KZST. That eventually evolved into jock work and a weekend show. From there I found a lot more hours and a second family at Santa Rosa news/talk station KSRO. For four years I wore a number of hats and had very few days off... morning news producer, producer of the extremely popular 3-hour afternoon show, DJ on the sister classic rock station... while I also ran the promotions department AND was sole operator/producer on location for all live weekend talk shows and station appearances. Exhausting, but an incredible way to learn the ropes!
Now I'm 43 years old, my son is raised and on his own and I've since relocated back home to the City of Roses where I've never felt more alive and happy. I came aboard CBS country station 98-7 KUPL in 2005 and was eventually brought on board to also cover morning news for K-Hits 106-7 with some of the most memorable radio legends from my childhood!Sadly, corporate cutbacks sent me into the unemployment line this past August. I miss my job and my coworkers like crazy but I recently kept myself busy with LOUD ROCK-n-ROLL as rhythm guitarist for AMERICAN THIGHS, Portland's All Girl AC/DC Tribute Band. I'm planning to put my own band together soon so I can work on my original material for gigging next year.
If you wanna see some of the other stuff I'm doing online, there's a few fun places to check out: